Nel ASA Maps Out 1 GW at Herøya as Losses Underscore the Commercial Gap

Nel ASA has laid out a two-step expansion of its automated pressurised-alkaline electrolyser line at Herøya, with capacity set to hit 500 MW a year by the end of 2026 and 1 GW during 2027. The roadmap, detailed roughly three weeks ago, describes intended manufacturing capability rather than output already achieved — a distinction that matters given the company's latest set of accounts.

Those quarterly figures, also published about three weeks back, cover the third quarter of 2026. Revenue from customer contracts came in at NOK 112 million, down 63% year on year. Total revenue including other income reached NOK 138 million, while EBITDA stood at minus NOK 93 million and the net loss at NOK 141 million.

Order intake, by contrast, totalled NOK 253 million. The three metrics — intake, capacity and earnings — sit at different stages of the business and should not be conflated. A fuller order book and a larger factory floor say nothing on their own about billed revenue or margins.

A handover that overlaps the build-out

The capacity timetable runs straight through a change at the top. On 21 October, Nel named Morten Holum to succeed Håkon Volldal as chief executive, with a start date expected no later than 1 May 2027. Volldal was due to step away from his executive duties at the end of October.

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An internal bridge covers the gap. CFO Kjell Christian Bjørnsen is to take temporary charge of the company, with Torbjørn Berg lined up as interim finance chief — so the transition spans both the CEO's office and the finance function.

Holum's long-term incentive package is valued by Nel at NOK 5 million, split between NOK 2 million in cash and NOK 3 million in restricted share rights, adding a longer-horizon pay element to the appointment.

The sequencing is notable: the 500 MW milestone is slated to land before Holum is expected to take office, while the step up to 1 GW falls in the year he arrives. The production targets therefore stretch beyond the personnel handover rather than depending on it.

Two yardsticks, not one

For investors, the two workstreams call for separate scorecards. The leadership succession is one question; the industrial execution is another. Neither substitutes for the other — naming a new CEO does not constitute operational progress, and the build-out cannot be judged solely against the date he starts.

What the expansion does not settle is utilisation. A planned annual capacity figure describes what the line is designed to deliver, not how full it will run, how many electrolysers will actually roll off it, or what orders will follow. The Herøya plan offers an industrial horizon; the income statement has yet to show the commercial payoff. A durable improvement needs more than added manufacturing room — it has to surface in realised business and narrower losses.

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